Ride Report: Cloudcroft instead of Epic ride, thanks to Issac

[Bastrop]

Picture of the bike today in Cloudcroft. I didn't look much better!

We did 22 miles of the Rim trail then went on and rode a bunch of other trails.

[Tourmeister]

Originally Posted by Bastrop

Picture of the bike today in Cloudcroft. I didn't look much better!

We did 22 miles of the Rim trail then went on and rode a bunch of other trails.

Dude... That wasn't from our Friday ride! Where did you find any mud? The Rim Trail was bone dry when we ran it.

[Bastrop]

This was from Saturday. Tim actually fell over in it. We were both pretty muddy yesterday!

[Tourmeister]

Originally Posted by Bastrop

This was from Saturday. Tim actually fell over in it. We were both pretty muddy yesterday!

Where was it?

[Bastrop]

Honestly I have no idea!

Whew! What a 3 day weekend. 600+ miles of riding around Cloudcraft. Amazing place. Can't wait to come back!

Thanks again for showing us around. Today we re-did most of the route we did on Friday. Tried to get back to Alamogordo via Timberon but we were low on gas and couldn't figure it out so we ended up riding back up to Cloudcraft. It was very busy this weekend but the trails weren't bad.

Dan

[izz]

What's higher than class 4 trail system?

[izz]

Norbert's son Adam did a good part of the RIM trail on the KLR:

[Trail Boss]

Originally Posted by izz

What's higher than class 4 trail system?

Higher than class 4 is "Beyond Epic".

[Tourmeister]

My hat is off to Adam!

Looks like you guys wound up doing Apple Tree Canyon? If so, did you like it?

[reddogbmw]

Richard,
Thank you sending the T-shirt.
All was not lost, I spent time running, all, several of forest roads and county dirt roads.
I stay at, Camp, Mission Tejas State Park in Davy Crockett NF. Time away from City was good!
Brian

[izz]

Originally Posted by Tourmeister

My hat is off to Adam!

Looks like you guys wound up doing Apple Tree Canyon? If so, did you like it?

We did Apple Tree Canyon and I think it was a group favorite. Thank you for the recommendation.

[fossil]

Originally Posted by izz

We did Apple Tree Canyon and I think it was a group favorite. Thank you for the recommendation.

Is this the same one and the picture fairly representative of what the whole trail looked like?

http://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/linco...34310&actid=24

[fossil]

[
[/quote]

Also, that's 24 behind the riders right? It looks like a black top. Do you recall if it was paved the entirety of it's length from 506/Pinon to 130?

[izz]

Originally Posted by fossil

Is this the same one and the picture fairly representative of what the whole trail looked like?

http://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/linco...34310&actid=24

Here's a view from my handlebars, starting at the bottom of the route:

Apple Tree Canyon Movie - YouTube

Apple Tree Canyon Movie - YouTube

[Tourmeister]

Originally Posted by fossil

Is this the same one and the picture fairly representative of what the whole trail looked like?

http://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/linco...34310&actid=24

T5601 is the right trail. That pic is representative of just the small part you actually see in the pic The rest is nothing like the pic.

Originally Posted by fossil

Also, that's 24 behind the riders right? It looks like a black top. Do you recall if it was paved the entirety of it's length from 506/Pinon to 130?

No, that is Aqua Chaquita Rd behind them. It runs back West through Sacremento. it may also show as Hwy 521 on some maps. It is paved for a few miles past Sacremento then becomes nice gravel. 24 runs mostly North/South between Pinon and Hwy 130 and is a well paved highway. All of Hwy 130 between Mayhill and Cloudcroft is paved as well. It is a really nice ride!

[izz]

While running the RIM trail we came on a freshly felled tree. Since Norbert is our construction expert, he designed this KTM crossing, I'm not sure who designed his jersey...

[Tourmeister]

I remember that tree. We just lifted and dragged the bikes over it, and a few others. I can see in your pic where Jbay was banging on it with a rock thinking we might crush our way through it... eventually...

His rock broke

[Vinny]

Just wondering .... How many Epic riders ended up in Cloudcroft ?

[Tourmeister]

We met three, Dan, Tim and Mike. They joined us for dinner Thursday night, then rode with us Friday. Friday afternoon we ran into Izzy's group at the Weed Cafe. I think there might have been eight of them? There were also two other guys staying at the hotel next door to the BBQ place we at most of the week. One was on a 990 Adv and the other a 1200 GS, but they were just passing through on their way to points further West. So I guess that is about 13 that I know of.

[wedge1]

I did - took two bikes the KLR 650 and the RM 250. Very cool riding. I have been to Cloudcroft dozens of times but never to ride the forest trails. I found it very challenging but not too difficult. The hardest part was breathing at the high altitude. This made handling the KLR on the rocky trails a real chore. The RM 250 on the other hand just wanted to launch off of the trails at a moments notice. I had one bike without enough power and an abundance of weight and another with an abundance of power and very little weight. The classic dual sport problem - one bike just won't do everything and sometimes two won't either. I'll post more soon.